9/11/2015 0 Comments EmerganceThe opening of a project is always conceptul. I find "before" pictures painful as, well, images are full of emptiness. But then slowly as you progress, ideas you didn't even have begin to emerge. Position yourself to move with what becomes in the production process.
0 Comments
I worked the "The Territory (of Collaboration)" last night for an hour. On the one hand, I worked the garden with Jeremy - we weeded, I pruned the Smokebush, and got the hose running on the Enkanthius which had dropped a lot of leaves from a droughty summer. 9/9/2015 0 Comments Shady ColorIt is difficult to get color in the shade - white, OK, but color, OMG impossible almost. A client in North Buffalo put these ornaments in her bed that from afar look as if they are plants. Its something to think more about. 🙆🏼 9/8/2015 0 Comments Dendranthema 'Clara Curtis'
😓 For ten years I have been moving further and further toward the most traditional and old-tyme methods of production. Some would say this is nostalgia. While there is certainly a risk of this oftentimes the simplest tools are the most dependable. Today we rented the classic 2-person auger. And for the second time in as many weeks it was a miserable failure. The trick with "higher forms" of machinery is that on a small scale, their production gains don't outweigh their risk of failure. I've learned this too many times. The rented auger, by the time I pick it up and return it, even if it works flawlessly on the job, we've still used 1/2 a day of work up. Where, the most traditional of methods simply uses a clam-type post-hole-digger and a digging bar...but...this method doesn't fail. Today I needed to get 4 holes dug. Simple, but site conditions didn't allow the auger into the soil. Even if it takes an hour per hole manually, we haven't really taken any longer to do the project. I apologize. This is a little drifty. But here is my point: Even if traditional methods take a little longer, one can plan the pace of production. Steady progess and hard work always feel good - failure never does. The anxieties and headaches that come with large scale machinery are more often than not emotionally inefficient. |
Matthew DoreLandscape designer and Proprietor of Buffalo Horticulture Archives
April 2020
Categories |